Last updated: April 2026
A person writes every article on this site. Not a bot, not a model. A named editor reads the primary source, pulls the verified facts, and writes the draft. AI comes in afterwards, for copy editing. That order is fixed and we do not break it.
How a story gets written
The editor starts with something happening in the real world that matters to households in the UK. An ONS figure, a Bank of England decision, an Ofgem tariff cap, a Transport for London strike calendar, an NHS eligibility change. The editor reads the source document itself, not a summary of it, and pulls the numbers, names, dates, and quoted language out by hand.
Then the editor writes the draft. From the top. Sentences, paragraphs, framing, attribution. Every fact gets linked to the primary source it came from, and the same sources are listed at the bottom of the article.
If the editor cannot locate a primary source or tier-1 UK wire copy (BBC, Reuters, AP, The Guardian, Sky News, the FT, Press Association) for a claim, the claim does not appear. The article is held until the source is found or is spiked.
Where AI helps
Once the draft exists, we run it through an AI copy editor. The pass looks for typos, grammar slips, clunky phrasing, and sentences that run too long. The editor keeps or rejects each change. Nothing in the structure, the facts, or the framing moves unless the editor says so. It is the same job a sub-editor has done on newspaper copy for a century, just faster.
The hero image on each article is generated by an image model. It is illustration, not evidence. Every prompt blocks identifiable faces, brand logos, shop names, and any readable signage, so the image cannot be mistaken for a photograph of a specific person, place, or business.
Our short-form video version reads the article out using a synthetic voice. Before the video publishes, we run the transcript against the article line by line to catch any drift. Anything that does not match gets re-rendered or held.
What AI does not do here
- Write the draft. The editor does that.
- Pick stories. What we cover, what we leave alone, and whether a piece is ready to run are editorial calls made by a human.
- Check facts. Facts are checked against named primary sources by an editor. We do not let an AI mark its own homework.
- Write opinion or forecasts. Where a number is a forecast or an estimate rather than a confirmed fact, we say so and attribute it by name. We do not publish AI-generated commentary or speculation.
- Sign off sensitive pieces. Articles that touch health, tax, benefits, or law go through a line-by- line check against the authoritative source before the editor puts their name to it.
The pre-publish audit on video
Every video runs through a pre-publish audit. The audit pulls frames at three-second intervals for visual review, runs an automated transcript diff against the source script, and checks that the on-screen hook text lands where it should. Anything that fails is held. The upload tool will not accept a video without the audit sign-off, so the gate is enforced in code, not by memory.
Corrections and who is responsible
The editor who writes an article takes responsibility for the final text. If a fact is wrong, tell us and we will fix it. Email contact@trendingsheet.com and we will correct the copy, log the change on the article with the date and a note, and leave the original publication timestamp intact so the fix is traceable.
Why we are laying all this out
AI is useful for the mechanical parts of journalism. Catching a typo. Trimming a sentence. Producing an illustrative image. It is not useful for the parts that need judgement, and judgement is most of what editorial actually is. So we treat AI the way we would treat a sub-editor and a photographer sat next to the reporter. It helps. It does not replace.
The full policy, including source tiers and the escalation process on contested claims, is on the Editorial Standards page.